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  Zombie Boy & Mugler

  These are a look at a few photos from the latest ad campaign for Mugler’s winter collection, by Nicola Formichetti. In the ad campaign they’ve used Zombie Boy aka Rick Genest.

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  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Buffs Graffiti

  The Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford has been cracking down on graffiti. We’ve seen the result to what the Toronto graffiti writers think of Rob Ford’s crackdown. Yesterday the Mayor held a press conference while he tried buffing some graffiti.

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  Lush – “Follow This”

  The graffiti writer Lush creates a painted path to a surprise. Watch the video to see what that surprise is.

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  Shepard Fairey – Major Secret Revealed

  The street artist Shepard Fairey and his wife were recent stopped by TMZ for a few questions. While being asked questions, Shepard’s wife accidentally reveals a secret on camera.

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  Goodbye Graffiti

  Toronto has been dealing with a large crackdown on graffiti ever since Rob Ford was elected mayor. It seems to be one of the most talked about topics as of recent, due to Mayor Rob Ford’s plan to eliminate graffiti from Toronto. This new mini-documentary titled “Goodbye Graffiti”…

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  Illustrated Tattooed Disney Princesses

  These tattooed Disney princesses were created by the illustrator Telegrafixs.

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  Warwick Saint Tattoo Girl Photography

  The photographer Warwick Saint has a great series of tattooed girls he’s photographed. These are a few of this photos.

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  Superheroes Other Identity

  The designer Danny Haas created a series of posters takes some of the most popular superheroes and splits them in half to show their two identities.

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  Chad Muska Arrested for Graffiti

  The professional skateboarder Chad Muska was arrested last night for graffiti. He was caught by security guards in Hollywood early in the morning, apparently tagging several store fronts. The security guards apprehended him and held him till the police arrived. Muska is currently being held on $20,000 bail.

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  Shok1 Painting in China Censored

  In July the graffiti artist Shok1 painted a large mural in China that the government did not approve of. There was talks of the painting being censored. This is how they decided to censor the painting, turning the noose into hooks with two large fish.

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Last week TATS Cru went after the car company Fiat after one of their murals was featured in the Jennifer Lopez car commercial without permission. Both sides have now come to an agreement.

The New York Times reports that TATS Cru’s lawyer, Stacey Richman, said in statement on Thursday that the muralists and Fiat are “excited to announce an additional collaboration” in which Fiat is giving them a car to paint and then auction off to a charity of their choice.

Read more here.

The television commercial for Fiat starring Jennifer Lopez which features her in her hometown of the Bronx was actually shot in LA studios. Now it’s also started a copyright dispute involving the TATS Cru who’s copyrighted ”I HEART BRONX” mural was featured in the ad.

Read the full article here.

Steven Weinberg, 43, of Flushing, a patrolman who retired from the NYPD in 2001 after hurting his leg, is the notorious graffiti writer “Neo”.

Transit cops investigating graffiti in northeast Queens watched as Neo’s tag began appearing all over train trestles and highway overpasses the last two years, not far from Weinberg’s home.

They knew their nemesis was a cop. Numerous tipsters confided that Neo once wore a badge, and detectives uncovered a faceless photograph of Neo online, back to the camera, wearing an NYPD raid jacket, according to court documents.
Meanwhile, Neo was almost taunting investigators. Without identifying himself by name, the aging vandal gave a lengthy interview to the underground graffiti Web site SubwayOutlaws.com in which he bragged about his time as Neo and identified himself as a cop and “a cripple.”
Weinberg, who uses a cane, wasn’t hard to track down once his name finally surfaced.

Cops found “numerous e-mails” talking about Weinberg’s “graffiti-related activities,” as well as Neo’s MySpace page, which had comments revealing the ex-cop’s birth date. A search warrant executed at Weinberg’s home on Sanford Avenue turned up “additional evidence,” sources said.

“The evidence recovered led to ‘Neo’ being identified as Mr. Steven Weinberg,” read a memo sent by a transit sergeant to the bureau’s chief.
Weinberg was arrested at his home on Aug. 3, 2010, and charged with felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor making graffiti and possessing a graffiti instrument.
Grilled by detectives, Weinberg reportedly confessed to at least one crime — tagging the walls of the Clearview Expressway in May 2009.

Full story here.

Source: Revok1

The Torontoist has started a series that features a profile on a local graffiti artist. The first one is a feature on the graffiti artist Sohoe. Read the article here.

The blog website Oskoui Oskoui has put an article together about the graffiti writer Kidult. The article dives into the reasoning Kidult has been receiving so much notoriety. Read the full article here.

Here’s an interesting article on the Montreal Craigslist trying to find the graffiti writer Sake after his house had been vandalized.

This is what the original article read:

I came across you spray painting the side of my house, I know you didn’t appreciate my criticism of asking to “paint something original”. I mean you are a young budding artist, you had a cute cub look with your short beard slightly chubby features. It was dark, maybe it was the baggy clothing that gave you the chubby look. Your friend (I think he has a coke addiction that you really should lookout for) valiantly defended your art by showing me who is boss by punching me in the side of the head. I bet you there are many rickety stair cases and poorly place door knobs in his place that his spouse keeps running into at home if you know what I mean .

Anyways, you would be surprised to know that your “friend” that you said that owned my house doesn’t and probably was less then honest with you about that. I actually own the house, got meself the fancy deed and everything. You also say you paint this house all the time. I haven’t seen your work before on this place, but the mean ol’ oppressive big brother city keeps removing it. It is like someone is calling them or something.

I read an interview about your work in “The Infamous”, I love how you complain about cookie-cutter art and you choose to ironically write the something everywhere as a statement against this “cookie cutter society”. Now I know the homophobic thing you uttered when I criticized your art, was just you blending in with the crowd and appealing to your audience. Based on all the homophobic things that are posted on forums that feature your art.

Of course the artist last night may not have been the original SAKE and one of the many “cookie cutter” artists in your repetitive and limited art form.

Anyways, would you like to meet for coffee or tea sometime? Maybe your coked out friend can come along so he can help defend your work from criticism or suggestion.

This Toronto mural painted by artist Adrian Hayles maybe effected by Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford’s plan to rid the city of graffiti.

The owner of the store that commissioned Adrian Hayles to paint the mural was issued a removal notice on June 13th, 2011.

Read the full article here.

The Los Angeles graffiti artist Revok has an article about him published in the Wall Street Journal.

LOS ANGELES—To the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Revok is a renowned artist whose bright, sprawling work is worthy of display in its latest exhibit.

To the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Revok is Jason Williams, also known as inmate No. 2714221.

Last month, Mr. Williams was sentenced to 180 days in county jail as a result of a probation violation from a graffiti incident, just days after the opening of a major museum exhibit dedicated to “street art” that features his work. Unable to post his $320,000 bail, Mr. Williams sat in jail for four days before the sentencing.

It may be illegal on the street, but inside the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, a new exhibit celebrates the history of graffiti, featuring work by artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey. WSJ’s Tammy Audi reports.

Law-enforcement officials around the country are prosecuting graffiti artists with harsher sentences than ever, pushing for felony charges, real prison time and restitution payments as they seek to wipe graffiti from the streets. At the same time, the art world and corporations are embracing the form like never before.”You can make a case that graffiti and street art is the most influential art movement since the great innovations of the ’60s,” says Jeffrey Deitch, director of the L.A. museum, known as MOCA. “Before this show, no American museum had ever done an ambitious historical exhibition.”

Law enforcement sees this as a historic moment as well: “This is really the first time in the history of law enforcement that we’re making significant gains on identifying who the [graffiti] taggers are, and building a case against them,” says Lt. Vince Carter, who heads the sheriff’s graffiti unit. “We’re in this war against graffiti and we’re doing everything to stop it.”

In years past, authorities usually didn’t go out of their way to prosecute the artists, most of whom use pseudonyms to protect their identities.

Now, law-enforcement officials in major cities around the country are sharing information, creating catalogs of graffiti work by artist. Police can use evidence of past vandalism to obtain search warrants, and “stack” charges to prosecute graffiti vandalism as a felony.

Shepard Fairey, the L.A.-based graffiti artist famous for his portrait of President Barack Obama, which hangs in the Smithsonian, was arrested in Boston in 2009 on his way to celebrate a museum exhibit of his work. Mr. Fairey was eventually charged with 30 felonies for putting stickers and posters on stop signs and guard rails. Mr. Fairey disputed the charges.

Most of the charges were dropped, but Mr. Fairey was sentenced to two years probation for misdemeanor vandalism and prohibited from carrying stickers in Boston, his attorney said.

Police worry that graffiti exhibits encourage vandalism. But graffiti’s popularity has also helped their cause, as once-elusive artists come out of the shadows. “I think when law enforcement can identify a well-known graffiti artist, then that artist will become a target,” says Ton Chi Nguyen, Mr. Williams’s lawyer. He says Mr. Williams “does not view himself as a tagger or a vandal. He views himself as an artist.”

The street-art show at The Geffen Contemporary—one of the facilities at MOCA—features a neon-painted ice-cream truck topped with a cigar-smoking clown head. It has drawn thousands of visitors.

Some graffiti artists sell their work at private galleries or online. Others are hired by corporations to design ad campaigns or special products. In some cases, they are hired to paint murals. The works of the street artist known as Banksy, who hides his identity, have produced international fame and led him to create an Oscar-nominated documentary. In 2008, Sotheby’s sold a painting by another artist “which Banksy has defaced” for $1.8 million. Adidas and Pepsi have hired graffiti artists to create designs and marketing campaigns for their products.

Mr. Williams may be the only prisoner in L.A.’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility previously commissioned by Levi’s to design a jacket. (On sale at the MOCA exhibit for $250).

Mr. Williams, 34, a prolific painter active in Los Angeles since the late 1990s, has said he wanted to be a graffiti artist since he was a teenager.

Last month in Los Angeles, he was arrested as he attempted to board a flight to Ireland, where he was hired to paint a mural. He was arrested on a warrant for violating the terms of his probation stemming from a 2009 vandalism incident in Los Angeles. Mr. Williams failed to report for community service picking up roadside trash and didn’t pay $3,500 restitution to cover the cost of removing the graffiti, his lawyer and sheriff’s department officials said.

Prior to his 2009 arrest, investigators had been on the trail of Revok for years. “I’m happy he’s been identified and captured, and now he has to pay for what he was doing,” says Randy Campbell, a retired California Highway Patrol Officer who now helps cities trying to fight graffiti.

Law enforcement officials say they are responding to community demands to combat graffiti. Police say they aren’t making a judgment on whether graffiti is art. As long it is painted on public property without permission, it’s a crime. Los Angeles spends $10 million a year to scrub the stuff off walls.

“These vandals don’t have any respect for property,” Mr. Campbell says. He added that Mr. Williams’s work “was half-way decent. It was big puffy letters, multiple colors, nice shadowing.”

Lt. Carter, the Sheriff Department’s antigraffiti guru, says that “out of curiosity” he went to the MOCA show where he was struck by the sight of a decommissioned municipal bus painted over by an artist named Risk. “Now people are going to see that bus and want to write something on some other bus. That’s my job to stop that graffiti on that bus,” he said.

As for the artistic merits of the rest of the show: “I refrain from passing judgment.”

Write to Tamara Audi at: tammy.audi@wsj.com

Source: wsj.com, Known Gallery

First and foremost we are consistently surprised to many of the stories were hear from other graffiti writters concerning the “Vandal Squad”, or what ever other graffiti-related police they encounter. At no point during our arrests were either of us shown any photos of anyone else’s graffiti or anyone’s warrants or paperwork by police officers. It really makes us wonder what people run their mouths about to get to the point where police are showing them photos and shooting the breeze about other people’s business. When arrested, all you need to do is provide your name and ask for a lawyer. There is no conversation to be had beyond that.

Some of this may sound obvious, however you will be very surprised as to how often people fail to realize that IF AT ANY POINT, you find your self in handcuffs for any reason, you do not have to respond to any questions that police ask you. We suggest informing them of your personal information as far as government name and whatever bullshit address you would like to give them. If you refrain from giving this information you will be sitting in jail until authorities can figure out who you really are (ie: a long time).

Often, after being arrested police will attempt to get you to sign some sort of statement. They will often tell you what you did “isn’t a big deal”, and if you just cop to one charge, they won’t charge you with anything else. They might even offer to let you go home right then and there if you sign a statement, and threaten that if you don’t sign, they will go even harder on you. Remember during and arrest and interrogation police officers can and will lie to you, they are not breaking any law in doing so.

It is in your best interest NOT to write or sign any statements. If you do your a strait up toy, and don’t deserve to be writing graffiti. At no point can a police officer ever make you a deal. They do not have the ability to ensure you of anything in the courts. They merely arrest individuals and assist in building cases. Anything beyond that is left to the District Attorney, your lawyer, and the Judge. Police officers hold NO POWER in regards to “agreements” or anything of the sort. So there is ABSOLUTLEY, NO REASON to talk to them. They can not and will not help you. It is not their job to help you. In fact, if you are breaking the law, it is pretty much their job to fuck you over. By getting you to sign a statement admitting to even just one thing, it helps authorities build a case on you, and opens the floodgates for future incitements and arrest warrants.

Plea Bargaining
A common misconception of a Plea Bargain is that someone snitched, which is usually not the case. By definition, a plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, to either a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence. For example if you have ever been to court and received a conditional discharge, pleaded no-contest or been ordered to pay a fine to get a charge dropped then you have accepted guilt to a crime for a lesser sentence. Plea bargaining is a significant part of the criminal justice system in the United States; the vast majority (roughly 90%) of criminal cases in the United States are settled by plea bargain rather than by a jury trial.In certain circumstances plea bargains can include co-operating with and give information to the District Attorney. In such cases the details of the agreement will be transcribed in the court records (ie: they will most likely be public record.)

Read more here.